RCA BUILDING NEW YORK

In 1929, after he had assembled parcels of land extending from 48th to 51st Streets between Fifth and Sixth Avenues as a site for the new home of the Metropolitan Opera, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. was informed that the Great Depression had made it impossible for the opera company to move, and he was stuck with all that property, whose value was profoundly compromised. His response was to build this complex of office buildings, stores, and theaters. Its centerpiece is this monumental skyscraper, leased to the Radio Corporation of America, owner of, among other things, the National Broadcasting Company, whose studios and offices are in this building. RCA was acquired by General Electric in 1986, and the building’s name was officially changed to the GE Building.